Budgeting as a student is an ordeal for most people and trying to find enough money to buy the right foods, new clothes and textbooks that you need can be a real struggle. While short term loans are a possibility for students, it is not always the best option, and you can make things a lot easier for yourself by thinking about where the problem comes from and what you can do to prevent any financial problems happening in the first place. Here are a few of the things that you can do as a student in order to save some money.
Make your own food
You should avoid buying takeaway food, and even packaged and processed foods can work out a lot more expensive than you think. You might think those £3 meal deals are a great bargain, but if you do that twice a day each day of the week, you are spending over £40 per week and not even getting the goodness than you need in your diet. Plan and make a shopping list, then visit the local supermarket and pick up some fresh foods to cook yourself.
Use the library
Rather than spending money buying books for your studies, you can save money by borrowing from the library instead. The risk, of course, is that the books you need will not always be there. However, you can always sign up to use the local library as well as your college or university library, giving yourself even more chance of finding what you need. Beware of library fines, however, since failing to return your books on time could land you with a nasty fee to pay.
Share things with your flatmates and friends
Rather than buying packs of things for yourself alone, ask friends if they want to split the cost and share them with you. In many cases, students buy things and must throw much of them away, either because they go bad (in the case of foods) or because they are moving out and don’t have space to transport everything back home at the end of the summer.
Get a student bank account
Getting a student bank account can be dangerous for those who like to spend, since many of them come with a generous overdraft. However, you are also able to get other benefits, such as a student credit card, discounts and more.